James goodfellow



GAR STARTER.

Patented Jan. 6, 1885.

J. GOODPELLOW.

(No Model.)

UNTT D STATES PATENT O FICE.

JAMES GOODFELLO\V, OF NE\V YORK, N. Y.

CAR-STARTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 310,197, dated January6, 1885.

Application filed May I, 1854.

Be it known that 1, JAMES GooDrnLLow, a citizen of the United States,residing at New York city, in the county of New York and State of XewYork, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Gar-Starters,of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to certain mechanism for effecting the automaticstarting of a car, and it is particularly adapted to streetcars of theordinary construction. It is well known that a street-car, particularlywhen loaded, is very difficult to start, but moves easily when themomentum is acquired, and that the hardest work on the horses is instarting the car. My object is to produce by this invention mechanismadapted to be readily applied to old as well as new cars withoutnecessitating any peculiar construction of the car itself, by means ofwhich the car will be automatically started and the horses relieved to alarge extent of the constantly-recurring severe strain incident tostarting a car.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my said invention, Iwill now proceed to describe the same, by reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which- Figure 1 is a longitudinat section, Fig. 2 a bottomplan view, and Fig. 3 a cross-section, of a car embodying myimprovements.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts in all the figures. I

A designates the frame of the car; B, the axles, and O the wheels, whichare all. of the usual construction.

a designates the connecting-rod of my starting mechanism, supportedinplates 6 b attached to and depending from the frame of the car. Theouter end of this rod a is adapted to be removably connected to thetraces of the horses, and to its inner end one end of a chain, c, or itsequivalent, is fastened. The other end of this chain c is fastenedpreferably to the under side of an arm, d, one end of which is centrallyfixed to a shaft, 0, which extends across the rear end of the car andhas bearings in the sides of its frame A. The other end of this arm (Zhas fixed to its under side a downwardly-extending arm, terminating in ahook-shaped end.

9 designates a spring, one end of which is (No model.)

fast to frame A, and the other to the outer end of the arm (I.

Fixed to each end of the shaft a is a pinion,

h, which is always in mesh with a rack-bar, '1',

across from one to the other, the ends of the,

rod 70 having bearings in the feet j, and being fixed thereto by ashaft-pin or in other suitable manner.

I Z designate a pair of arms depending from the rear end of the frame A,for supporting weighted cams mm, which are pivoted to the lower ends ofthe arms Z Z.

The operation is as follows, viz: As the horses move forward the pullfirst straightens out the chain 0, thereby swinging the arm (I inward,and rotating the shaft 6 and its pinions h, which in turn move therack-bars i downward, and the feet j are swung forward and straightenedout until they bear ou'the track, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. l,and

' raise the rear end of the car-frame, by means of which the car isimpelled forward by its own gravity, and as the car moves away from thefeet j the weighted cams on m, the points of which bear under the redIt, act upon the rod and swing the feet back into the position shown byfull lines in Fig. l. XVhen the strain on the rod c and its connectionsis released by the horses slacking up, or in going downhill, the spring9 acts to hold the arm (I up, so that the hook-shaped end of the arm fbears under the rod k. It will thus be seen that when the car is inmotion the feet j will always be held up above the traekthat is to say,by the cams when the horses are pulling, and by the hookshaped arm whenthe pull on the rod a and its connections is slackened. It will also beseen that after the momentum of the car ceases, the pull of the horsesto start it will, as stated, always operate the swinging feetautomatically to start the car by its own gravity, and thereby take thestrain of pulling the load at the start from the horses.

I have found in practice that two men pulling on the rod a can by thismechanism start a street-car of the ordinary construction when carryinga load of fifty passengers.

\Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

1. A pair of movable feet or props for starting a car, supported fromthe ear-frame, in combination wit-l1 mechanism whereby said feet orprops may be automatically swung forward and straightened to raise therear end of the frame and impel the car forward by its own gravity,substantially as herein shown and described.

2. In a carstarter of substantially the construction described, theweighted cams m m, for holding the swinging feet above the track whenthe car is in motion, as set forth.

3. In a car-starter of substantially the construction described, thehook-shaped arm f, for holding the swinging feet above the track whilethe car is in motion and after the pull on the rod a is slaekened, asset forth.

4. In a car-starter, a pair of swinging feet, each swiveled to araek-bar which is in mesh with a pinion mounted on a shaft, in combination with a chain fixedly connected to said shaft and a rod fixed tosaid chain, so that when the horses move forward the shaft is rotatedand said feet are swung forward and straightened to bear on the trackand raise the rear end of the frame of the car, whereby the car isimpelled forward by its own gravity, substantially as herein shown anddescribed.

In a car-starter, a pair of swinging feet, each swiveled to the lowerend of a rack-bar arranged to move vertically in the sides of thecar-frame and in mesh with a pinion mounted on a shaft, an arm fixed tosaid shaft, a chain fixed to said arm, and a rod fixed to said chain, incombination with a hook-shaped arm and a pair of weighted cams,substantially as herein shown and described, for the purpose specified.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 2d day of April,A. D. 1884.

- JAMES GOODFELLO\V. Witnesses:

GEO. M. Banner, ARTHUR 0. Vans.

